View All Posts: StrengthStudent
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| » Journal 3.0 : this time it's serious (Go to post) | 02-09-2015 @ 19:31 | ||
| Trapbar deadlift 80 x 5 80 x 5 120 x 5 Add belt & straps 140 x 5 160 x 5 180 x 5 200 x 5 205 x 5 205 x 5 PB - easier than the first set Farmers walk 57.5 x 30m (drop & turn at 15m) Add belt 77.5 x 30m 87.5 x 30m 95 x 30m PB Happy, grip is the strongest it's ever been. Barbell rows 40 x 10 60 x 10 80 x 10 85 x 10 85 x 10 Pullups BW x 10 BW x 9 BW x 10 Preacher curls (with dumbbells) 15's x 5 17.5's x 2 - lol, new 2RM on preacher curls 10's x 13 10's x 12 | |||
| » Journal 3.0 : this time it's serious (Go to post) | 31-08-2015 @ 18:57 | ||
Post Edited: 31.08.2015 @ 19:30 PM by StrengthStudent Couldn't bring myself to take three days in a row off lifting, so decided to squeeze in a light(ish) upper body workout mainly focused around arms.Strict press (1 power clean per set) Bar for a couple sets of 10 40 x 8 Add belt 47.5 x 5 55 x 14 PB Close grip bench 50 x 10 70 x 8 90 x 8 100 x 5 100 x 5 100 x 5 - paused the last rep French press 20 x 10 Add belt & elbow sleeves 35 x 12 35 x 11 35 x 10 Barbell curls (pretty heavy cheating towards the end) 20 x 10 40 x 10 45 x 8 50 x 8 50 x 8 55 x 6 Preacher curls (with dumbbells) 15's x 5 15's x 5 15's x 5 10's x 12 Bent over rear delt flies 12.5's x 12 12.5's x 12 12.5's x 12 Finished off by experimenting with some 21's. Tomorrow off then farmers walks/deadlifts on Wednesday! | |||
| » Journal 3.0 : this time it's serious (Go to post) | 30-08-2015 @ 03:49 | ||
| Would have liked a full days rest between my last training session, but it's looks as though it's going to be a hectic week for me (working 74 hours over 8 days) so had to sneak it in today. Leg training! Squat 60 x 8 100 x 6 120 x 4 Add belt 140 x 4 160 x 4 160 x 4 160 x 4 160 x 4 Decided to stick with high bar for now as I prefer it overall. Goal is to work up to 180 for reps then build up from there. Romanian deadlift 60 x 10 Add belt and straps 100 x 10 120 x 10 120 x 10 120 x 10 Glute ham raise BW x 5 BW x 5 BW x 5 BW x 5 Just playing around with form, this seems to be much harder using my equipment compared to the GHR I've used at the gym. First sets were tough, last two were comfy. Should add weight to these soon. Calf raises (standing with barbell) 60 x 15 100 x 10 Add belt 130 x 10 150 x 10 160 x 8 | |||
| » Journal 3.0 : this time it's serious (Go to post) | 28-08-2015 @ 16:32 | ||
Post Edited: 28.08.2015 @ 16:34 PM by StrengthStudent Lower back was feeling slightly iffy going into today (think I slightly pulled it yesterday on leg raises of all things lol), but in the end still had a good session.Log press (weight x clean+press) 35 x 1+6 45 x 5+5 Add belt 55 x 5+5 65 x 5+5 75 x 5+5 - tough, but still a PB I believe 75 x 5+5 - much better, easy Add elbow sleeves & wrist wraps 85 x 1+5 PB Strict press (no belt, 1 power clean per set) 40 x 8 50 x 5 60 x 5 60 x 5 60 x 5 60 x 5 Easy, will increase weight next week Incline bench 40 x 8 60 x 8 70 x 8 80 x 8 80 x 8 80 x 8 Again, easy. Will up it next time. Big goal of pressing 140 on incline, feel that would carry over well to overhead strength, and also should translate into a very big bench. Dips / lateral raises superset BW x 20 / 15's x 20 +20 x 12 / 20's x 10 +20 x 12 / 20's x 10 +20 x 11 / 20's x 8 Really like dips as an overall pressing accessory, but only when done light and for high reps. I think a good goal for me would be 20 reps with two plates. Bent over rear delt flies 10's x 20 10's x 20 10's x 20 Really enjoyed today, even though lower back was tight & I only got a few hours sleep (still on night shifts till next week) I managed to get some PBs and make the weights feel light. Think it was partly because I was a bit angry about a personal matter, took it all out on the iron  | |||
| » Journal 3.0 : this time it's serious (Go to post) | 27-08-2015 @ 19:05 | ||
| Felt like having a quick gym session, but didn't want to mess up recovery from yesterday's training, or affect tomorrow's heavy pressing. So, just did a "recovery" workout. Back extensions superset with sit-up isometric hold BW 3x10 / BW 3x30 seconds Jump rope superset with planks 3x50 jumps / BWx60,45,30 seconds Leg raises (bent knees) BW 3x10 Rotator cuff rotations 3kg 3x10 each arm. Finished off with some stretching & rolling of tight areas. Feel good, ready to press heavy tomorrow. Will try and get a session like this in at least once a week from now. | |||
| » Journal 3.0 : this time it's serious (Go to post) | 27-08-2015 @ 00:22 | ||
| Trapbar deadlift 80 x 5 80 x 5 100 x 5 Add belt & straps 120 x 5 140 x 5 160 x 5 180 x 5 200 x 5 PB 200 x 5 Felt good, more in the tank as well. Farmers walk 57.5 x 60m (drop and turn at 30m) 57.5 x 60m 57.5 x 60m Tore a callus last time I did these, so just went light today. Focused on speed and took minimal rest, was more for conditioning really. Barbell rows 40 x 10 60 x 10 80 x 10 80 x 10 80 x 10 Pullups BW x 9 BW x 8 BW x 8 Hammer curls 25's x 20 25's x 16 25's x 15 Good session. | |||
| » Journal 3.0 : this time it's serious (Go to post) | 23-08-2015 @ 06:17 | ||
Just filmed this set so I could check my form. Wasn't going to post it but figured meh, why not? | |||
| » Journal 3.0 : this time it's serious (Go to post) | 23-08-2015 @ 05:35 | ||
| Log press (one motions) 35 x 6 35 x 6 55 x 5 Add belt 60 x 5 65 x 5 70 x 4 PB 75 x 3 PB Swap to cleaning & pressing each rep, added elbow sleeves & wrist wraps 80 x 3 85 x 3 PB I normally just do one clean per set, so these are all default PBs really. Still felt good though, I think my all time best of 100x1 will fall soon. Farmers walk 57.5 x 20m (drop and turn at 10m) Add belt 77.5 x 20m 87.5 x 20m 97.5 x 10m 102.5 x 10m Grip is the strongest it's ever been atm, it's always been a weakness but I'm putting in the work and it's starting to pay off. Trapbar deadlift (high handles) 80 x 10 Add straps and belt 120 x 10 140 x 10 160 x 10 PB 170 x 8 180 x 8 PB Again default PBs as only the third time using this bar. Everything was super easy, but trying to play it smart. Dips BW x 15 +10 x 12 +20 x 10 +30 x 10 +30 x 10 Barbell curls 20 x 10 30 x 10 40 x 10 40 x 10 40 x 10 God that was a hard session. Done. | |||
| » Journal 3.0 : this time it's serious (Go to post) | 21-08-2015 @ 18:05 | ||
Post Edited: 21.08.2015 @ 20:10 PM by StrengthStudent Squat40 x 8 80 x 6 100 x 5 Add belt 120 x 5 140 x 5 150 x 5 155 x 5 PB 155 x 5 155 x 5 Chinups BW x 8 BW x 8 +20 x 6 +25 x 6 +25 x 4 +10 x 9 DB rows 35 x 10 Add straps 45 x 10 55 x 8 PB 60 x 5 PB Back extensions BW x 10 +5 x 10 +5 x 10 DB curls 15's x 12 15's x 12 15's x 12 Decent session. Lower back wasn't feeling the best going in so I decided to play it smart and skip the Trapbar deadlifts and just do some more back work instead. If I feel good I may do some deadlifting on my next events session. Playing around with my bar positioning on squats atm, as I decided that as I'm not really intending on competing in powerlifting any time soon that my old style wasn't the best for my goals. However the high bar positioning was feeling quite uncomfortable and hurting my neck. I swapped back to low bar for the last set, which felt good. I may just start squatting low bar again, but with a narrower stance, we'll have to see how it goes. | |||
| » Journal 3.0 : this time it's serious (Go to post) | 20-08-2015 @ 12:22 | ||
Post Edited: 20.08.2015 @ 12:46 PM by StrengthStudent First workout, wasn't feeling the best as I'd just come off a 10 hour night shift. Got some caffeine in me though and I was ready to go! Strict press 40 x 8 50 x 6 Add belt, elbow sleeves & wrist wraps 60 x 5 65 x 4 70 x 4 PB 75 x 1 Push press 75 x 3 82.5 x 3 90 x 3 PB 95 x 1 PB 70 x 10 PB Close grip bench press 60 x 10 80 x 8 90 x 6 97.5 x 4 105 x 2 All easy, will build from here in the future. Incline DB bench press 20's x 15 32.5's x 15 PB 32.5's x 14 Finished off with some light skullcrushers and lateral raises. Pretty decent little first session, think next time I will get a bit more volume in on overhead work. | |||
| » Journal 3.0 : this time it's serious (Go to post) | 20-08-2015 @ 12:21 | ||
| Discontinued the last journal due to suffering from a reoccurring back injury. I initially tore my lower spinal erectors a couple of years ago on squats when my form was pretty terrible, and re-tore it several times (seemingly) out of nowhere on conventional deadlifts. After several attempts to slowly build my deadlift back up I just seemed to keep tearing my lower back more and more frequently. Eventually I've decided enough is enough and it's time to stop spinning my wheels, so I bought a trap bar, as that seems to be perfectly fine on my lower back. I've said to myself that I'm going to be smart and stay away from conventional deadlifts until AT MINIMUM 2017. Even if my back feels perfectly fine I'm going to try and keep to my word on this, as I want it to recover to the point where I never have to worry about it again. In the meantime I will be working on vastly improving several lifts that should have very good carryover onto pulling, such as Oly squats, trapbar deadlifts, heavy farmers walks, rows and lots of back extensions. With all that said, here's the training schedule / split I've been using recently: A - pressing Overhead press Close grip bench Various triceps / shoulder work B - lower Squat Trapbar deadlift Rows / chin-ups C - event training Log / axle Farmers / stones Various accessories Pretty much based it on an article I read on here, as I figure for right now the simpler the better. I'm going to probably try and get a days rest in between each workout, meaning a full cycle through would take 6 days. The event training day may be a little tricky, as I have access to a log and farmers walk at my garage, or an axle and some atlas stones at the gym. The only problem is it's pretty difficult to get to the gym sometimes depending on my schedule (around a hour each way on the bus) and training events at mine would be pretty difficult if it's raining (which it often seems to be). So sometimes I may end up skipping the C workout and just going straight back to A from B. We'll just have to see how it goes. Anyway, that's enough for now, time to start the log! | |||
| » Slow & Steady Gains (Go to post) | 17-07-2015 @ 17:34 | ||
| Close grip bench 70 x 20 - paused last two reps DB skullcrushers 10's x 10 15's x 10 17.5's x 4 - will get more reps next time 12.5's x 15 Cable pushdowns 50kg x 20,20,20 Hammer curls (cheating) 35's x 12 - PB, but bad form. Will improve technique next time Incline DB curls 20's x 8,7,7 Cable curls 41kg x 15,14,14 Lateral raises 14's x 15,15 14's x 12, 8's x 15 drop set Happy with today, got a nice arm pump and feel I'll grow well from it, and at the same time I don't think it was taxing enough to detract from my main heavy sessions. Been trying to find a balance lately with my programming, as I enjoy mostly doing big heavy compound lifts & getting stronger but also want to do a bunch of isolation / accessory work for my weak points (aka arms), and fit in some strongman event training as well if I can. I'm thinking a good routine for me would be something like this: Sunday Squat Strict press Rows Tuesday Deadlift Bench press Weighted chin-ups Weighted dips Thursday Squat variation (pause squat, high bar squat, front squat etc) Push press (log, axle or barbell) Farmers walk Atlas stones Friday Arms Think that'd be a really good balance of everything. I'd probably add in 1-2 accessory movements at the end of my heavier days as well. I also need to get a hold of some stones to train with, in the meantime I'll probably just do some more pullups in their place. | |||
| » Slow & Steady Gains (Go to post) | 16-07-2015 @ 16:20 | ||
| Haven't logged the last couple of workouts, been really busy at work (doing 50+ hours this week). Today's training: High bar squats (belt only) Warm up 140 x 5 145 x 5 150 x 5 150 x 5 Haven't done high bar in ages, I believe my all time best is 152.5x5. Bench press Warm up 90 x 10 95 x 10 95 x 10 95 x 9 Farmers walk 57.5 per hand x 30m 75 per hand x 30m 75 per hand x 30m Chin-ups Warmup BW+10 x 12 BW+10 x 10 BW x 12 - wide neutral grip Bent DB flies 5's x 12 10's x 12 10's x 12 10's x 12 | |||
| » Slow & Steady Gains (Go to post) | 12-07-2015 @ 16:35 | ||
| Took a nap today and woke up feeling really refreshed. Had a few hours to kill before work so decided to skip the rest day and do some pressing today instead. Incline bench 20 x 15 40x 9 60 x 7 70 x 4 80 x 12 - PB Pause bench 40 x 8 60 x 6 80 x 4 90 x 10 80 x 13 70 x 16 I find I get burned out really quick doing pauses with high reps. Think I'll continue focusing on incline for the time being over flat, as it'll have better carry over to strongman and overhead strength. Will still keep regular bench in my training tho, for overall strength and dem chesticles  Low incline DB bench 35's x 8 These feel a lot heavier than the dumbbells at he gym of equivalent weight. I'm sure it's not just a mental thing. Strict overhead press (belt) 20 x 8 40 x 5 50 x 13 50 x 11 Add wrist wraps & elbow sleeves 50 x 12 DB skullcrushers / Flat DB flies superset 15's x 7 / 15 15's x 8 / 15 15's x 8 / 13 Good little pressing session, if I feel like it I may come back tonight after work and do a few sets of curls, nothing major. Tomorrow I'll force myself to take a rest day, then will hit up some squat/deadlift assistance work on Tuesday. | |||
| » Slow & Steady Gains (Go to post) | 11-07-2015 @ 21:37 | ||
| Went to see europes strongest man today, very motivated to get stronger right now Squat (belt, knee sleeves & wrist wraps) 60 x 7 90 x 6 120 x 5 140 x 3 150 x 3 160 x 3,3,3 ^ all pretty easy, had a rep left on each set. Didn't want to push anything to failure and risk hurting my back any more. Going to try to keep adding a rep a session until I can hit 160x10, then I'll start working up heavier. Deadlift stance box squat (belt, knee sleeves & wrist wraps) 100 x 5 120 x 5 130 x 10 Want to get up to 180 for reps on this, then when I go back to deadlifting I should be able to get really good leg drive off the floor. Chin-ups BW x 5,5 BW+10 x 4 BW+20 x 8 Wide neutral grip pullups BW x 11,11,11 Calf raises 60 x 10 100 x 10 140 x 10 160 x 8 I want Benny Magnusson sized calves. Was going to do farmers walk here to finish things off, but it was raining outside so I just did a couple upper back/grip exercises instead. DB rows (belt & straps) 25's x 8 45's x 17 DB shrugs (belt & straps) 45's x 30 Static hold (doh grip, no straps or chalk etc) 100 x 30 seconds 140 x 20 seconds Done, will take tomorrow off then hit up some pressing on Monday. Last two days of training have been really good | |||